Building construction



April 5, 1938. ca. E. SWENSON BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 10, 1934 Patented Apr. 5, 1938 UNITED STATES BUILDING CONSTRUCTION George E. Swenson,

Hastings on Hudson N. Y., assignor to The Celotex Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Delaware Application February 10, 1934, seria No. 710,610

5 Claims. (91. 72-127).

The invention relates to a'new and novel manner of construction, whereby those portions of building structures which require waterproofing may be constructed more readily, more perma- 5 nently, and more cheaply than when erected according to the now known practices.

In the construction of various buildings, bridges and the like, particularly of the concrete floors, foundation walls and the like, it is now common practice to provide .dampproofing or waterproofing courses or facings to prevent the various and sundry deleterious effects which. may be brought about in masonry, concrete brick work and the like, when wet; as for example, disin- 15 tegr'ation brought about due to freezing and thawing. Also in the construction of liquid holding tanks similar dampproofing and waterproofing facings or courses are employed to,either retain the liquid in the tank, to protect the outside from water or for both of these purposes.

The waterproofing courses may, of course, be of any suitable nature, but the majority of such courses comprise either rather heavy continuous films of asphaltic or bituminous nature, which 25 may or may not contain fiber or layers of felt adhered and coated with asphaltic or bituminous substances, and applied similarly to the application of so-called built-up roofing.

Still other forms of waterproofing courses may 30 be employed, for example such course may comprise sheets of metal foil, adhered to the surface to be protected, by an adhesive, for exampie, with asphaltic or bituminous adhesives. Foil,

so applied is, of course, overlapped and the ex- 35 terior surface is preferably coated with an asphaltic or bituminous product to protect the foil. The essential of the waterproofing course is that it shall be well bonded tothe structure to be protected and shall constitute a continuous 40 water impervious membrane preventing any access of water to the wall or other structural part to be protected.

The asphalt or bitumen used in providing the waterproofing course should be of thetype hav- 45 ing low-melting point, 125 to 135 F., so that a continuous film may be applied without undue difficultyand in order that in cold weather the film shall not harden to the extent that it may be embrittled and crack. 50 The waterproofing course is somewhat fragile, as regards susceptibility to mechanictilinjury and in substantially all cases it is necessary to provide protection therefor, which is accomplished by securing over the outer face of the waterproof 55 ing course, layer of fiber insulating beard.

tion.

fiber insulating board, which is a cellular yielding and resilient material, when secured to the outer face of the waterproofing course, protects it from mechanical injury and at the same time serves as a' heat insulating medium, to prevent 5 undue softening of the asphaltic or bituminous materials if, for example, the work is exposed and is being erected during hot weather.

Very important advantages of the use of fiber insulation board for the protection of the waterproofing course, are in that as soon as the board is adhered to the waterproofing course other steps of construction may proceed, there is no wait necessary for setting, hardening or the like, and, for example, back fill may immediately be made against an installation on a foundation wall or barrows and normal construction trafiicmay proceed over such installation laid for fioor 'protec- In order that the protection afforded by the application of fiber insulation board may be permanent, it is very desirable that such board be one which contains integrally distributed therethrough substances, which are toxic to'or inhibitory to the life processes of fungi, rot and termites, or otherwise under the conditions of use, the board will be subject to early disintegration and the protection afforded thereby will be lost. Further, the toxic substance in the fiber insulating board should'be water insoluble, for example, it maybe zinc meta arsenate, in order that it shall not leach out under the conditions of use and lay the fiber board open to attack by destructive oi'ganisms as above mentioned. I

As the final step in the preparation of the waterproofed structures, according to the inven-.- tion hereof, the exposed face of the fiber insulation board' should be coated with asphaltic or bituminous materials, which coating ailords an added protection against water penetrating the 40 finished structure. I The objects of the invention are to provide a. new and novel manner of waterproofing building structuresywherein, by following the teachings, of the invention, the complete application 'of a waterproofing course may be accomplished more expeditiously than at present, at less cost andin a more permanent manner. Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent from. the description in the specification. 1 The invention is. disclosed in the drawing wherein:

At it there is illustrated a wall of brick or the like, to which the waterproofing course is to be applied. The dampproofing or waterproofing course is illustrated at H, and comprises a continuous film about $4," thick of a viscous low melting point, 125 to 135 F., asphalt or bitumen which may be more or less fibered to afford more or less interior tenacity of the film. The waterproofing film may alternatively comprise felt and asphaltic or bituminous products, applied'in accordance with the accepted specifications for the application of such films. Briefly, an application as just described requires that the felt be laid in aplurality of overlapping courses thoroughly adhered, embedded and coated with-asphalt or bitumen. In place of the forms of the water and'dampproofing film as above described, it is to be understood that any accepted form may be substituted. I

To protect the water and dampproofing film ll, there is applied over the surface thereof a layer pf fiber insulating board II, which is adhered to the film ll, preferably being bedded in the last surface coat of asphaltic or bituminous,

material going to make up the mm or, depending upon conditions of application, by the use of a further adhesive coat of asphalt or bitumen.

The layer of fiber insulating board l2, applied preferably in convenient size units, say 2' x 4,

h forming a tough, resilient heat insulating layer over the waterproofing course, serves to prevent the low melting point asphalt from being unduly foundation wail. 1

softened or melted in hot weather, and protect the film from abrasion and mechanical injury in he further course of building construction, for example, in the case of back filling against a This fiber insulation board protective layer for ,5" thickness weighs only about pound per square foot, as against about 8 pounds per square foot for a cement mortar protective layer ,5" thick. Due to the low weight of the fiber board layer, there is not the tendency for it to pull 'on the waterproofing course, which effect, with the non-self sustaining cement mortar course with its much greater weight, is at times sum ciently great' as to disrupt the waterproofing course. h

Overthe fiber board protective lwer ii, there is preferably applied a continuous. coating of asphalt or bitumen it, which final coating o'onstitutes an added waterproofing protection'for. the structure.

Throughout the specification and claims the word wall is used in a generic sense to include roofs, fioors and other wall-like structures.

' applied,'is finished, that is, there It will be seenthat in accordance with the above, there has been disclosed an improved waterproofing treatment for structures of various kinds, which is simple in application, of lower cost than that of present practices, is lighter in weight and particularly one, which in addition to such features, provides heat insulation, and of great importance is one which, as soon as is no waiting for mortar to harden or the like.

- Having described the invention in detail, I claim:

1. A waterproofed building construction comprising a wall, a water impervious waterproofing course, and a protective course, the water impervious waterproofing course adhered to a surface of the wall and a protective courseadhered to the exposed face of the waterproofing course. the protective course comprising a cellular and light weight resilient heat insulation board.

2. A waterprooied building construction comerected thereon and a cushioning and impact absorbing facing erected on said waterproofing course, the cushioning and impact absorbing facing comprising a coherent, resilient and cellular flexible sheet form material. a

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein the cushioning and impact absorbingfacing is of a thickness of to 9 and;has a density of between 0.15 and 0.3.

-5. A composite waterproofed wall construction comprising a wall, a waterproofing course erected thereon and a cushioning and impact absorbing facing erected on said waterproofing course, the

cushioning and impact absorbing facing comprising a coherent and resilient semi-rigid and self supporting fiber board.

GEORGE E. swauson. 

